


Dreams in Darkness

by MarsDragon



Category: Akumajou Dracula: Akatsuki no Menuetto & Sougetsu no Juujika | Castlevania: Aria & Dawn of Sorrow
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-17
Updated: 2006-09-17
Packaged: 2017-11-23 08:33:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/620148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarsDragon/pseuds/MarsDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The bottom of Soma's mind, and what Dimitrii found there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dreams in Darkness

Being freed from his body was both oddly freeing, but all the same Dimitrii was relieved when his desperate gamble paid off and he entered the boy's body and not...the afterlife, if there was one. It had taken him a long time to find the spell and longer still to figure out how to use it with his specialized power, but it had all paid off in the end. Now he just had to settle and wait for his opportunity. Getting his bearings as best he could, he headed for the bottom of Soma's soul.

He was shocked enough to find solid ground, and more when he looked around. Dimitrii wasn't quote sure what he expected in the bottom of the boy's soul, but a medieval feast wasn't quite it. As far as he knew it was completely accurate...there were candles and wood tables and rushes, at least, and the smell seemed...accurate too. Once the candidate looked around a little more, though, the illusion became less convincing. The people chattered amongst themselves, but it was like a movie where people had been asked to give background chatter. Everything was just an indistinct mumble that rose and fell without ever becoming clear. Once he walked up to a group of people it got even worse. Their faces weren't anything more than blurs with three dark holes in them, mouth-holes endlessly opening and closing, spitting out mumbles that might have once been language.

Dimitrii took a step backwards. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen and done horrible things, but this was...unnerving. It made him think of old stories he had heard, where people got trapped in dreamlands forever. He made a note not to eat anything. If this was like the old stories, though, and he couldn't think of a reason why it wouldn't be; there were enough creatures of myth in the castle to make sure it was a possibility, then there had to be linchpin somewhere, something out of place that would lead him away from this. He just had to find it.

Along the walls seemed the most obvious choice for a linchpin to hide. The candidate glanced around the center of the room, just in case, but everyone was just the usual blurs. He avoided some smoky servants who had begun to clean off the table and began a circuit of the room. The room wasn't large, and rather brighter than he had expected. Even with all the candles the castle Celia had built wasn't this bright. The horrific smell nearly made up for it, though. It was amazing people had actually been able to live like this, he had to cover his face with his scarf just to keep from being sick all over the floor. Not that that would make anything worse here. It might even improve the smell.

It was obvious when he found what he was looking for. In fact, he was surprised he hadn't been able to notice from across the hall; though the fact it was obvious almost made him think it was a trap. They were the only two detailed people in the room. Though the man was still a tad blurred, the woman was almost...hyperrealistic. Too good to be true. In fact, everything went up a few degrees in intensity the closer he got to the pair. Noise evened out into almost recognizable words, the room became brighter, the colors more saturated...even if the smell got worse as well. Dimitrii crept closer, just enough to hear the conversation the couple was having. The words themselves were completely intelligible to him, but the meaning came through.

Not that there was much to hear. He had come up on the end of the conversation, just in time to hear the man utter the defeated laugh of someone who has been outsmarted, but does not peculiarly mind, and tell the woman that yes, she had in fact won. The man looked up then, his oddly intense grey eyes meeting Dimitrii's, and -

-the world froze.

The walls and people melted away, the woman lasting the longest before fading out of existence as well, leaving a much smaller study and the dark-haired man. The pair stared at each other for a bit in surprise, before Dimitrii decided to introduce himself, and did.

The man, presumably what was left of Dracula, looked at him with complete disinterest. The silence grew just long enough to start being uncomfortable before the former dark lord spoke with the same disinterest, then turned away. "Get out."

"Pardon? I believe -"

Dracula glanced back up at the candidate with a look that said 'are you _still_ here?', then picked up a book and started reading. "I told you to get out."

Dimitrii stiffened. To be brushed off like this, like he didn't even matter... it rankled with him. He had hoped to get some information out of the aged vampire, but instead was ignored like he didn't even matter. Fine then. He'd make Dracula come to him. Casually, as if it didn't matter to him either, he walked to the door. Just before leaving, he turned his head back and said, almost regretfully, "Too bad, I had hoped for your help. I know a way out of here, you know."

Just for a second, the ex-dark lord stiffened and almost glanced up, then went back to reading as if nothing had happened. Dimtrii left with a smirk on his face.

Later he began to find out why Dracula apparently did nothing but dream instead of looking through Soma's mind. It was all dead boring. The memories were nothing but the endless grind of the school system and dull relationships with dull people. Last year's trip through the castle was mildly entertaining, but all it really did was confirm that irritating religious people like Graham or Celia were the same if they served the light or the dark. And the sexual fantasies were interesting as well, if horrifying. Soma had obviously grown up on Japanese porn.

However, it was still better than the rest of the place. At least it had girls. And a few boys, including, amusingly enough, Genya Arikado. Dimitrii wasn't sure how the agent would react to finding out about what Soma thought of him, but it was sure to be hilarious. But other than that, there was nothing to do but wait for Dracula to finally come and find him. He had thought that the vampire would surely at least try to investigate a way out of here, but apparently the old wolf had lost more of his bite than it appeared. It looked like he'd have to offer a few more hints before he got the information he wanted. Sighing, Dimitrii picked himself up and went off to see the vampire.

This time when the candidate found the door and went though, he found a dimly-lit castle room and the same man and woman as before. There was an odd bittersweet feeling, though neither of the people seemed to notice. It had to be what Dracula thought when he looked back, and once Dimitrii realized this, he found he could also tell it was just before dawn, and the woman was his wife. It was an odd feeling to know such things, but useful. Right now Dimtriii had his own feeling the ex-dark lord wouldn't be happy to find him snooping around private moments, and did his best to fade into the background. There was ambition and there was stupidly, and he had always prided himself on being able to tell the difference. Sadly, that meant he was too far away to hear the quiet conversation, which irritated him quite a bit. The more he could find out about the man's life and powers the better.

It seemed to be ending anyway. The pair kissed, then walked over to the door, Dimitrii moving around for a better view. There was a blonde teenager waiting outside, who gave the two a half-smile before returning to looking bored. The Dracula-knowledge supplied that that was his son, and it took Dimitrii a few more glances to see that yes, that was a boy. He was almost too pretty to not be a girl. The woman smiled and patted Dracula on the arm before she and the boy left, leaving the dark lord by the door.

The bitter feeling grew, throwing off all sweetness and became mixed with a good bit of anger as well, strong enough to almost overwhelm the candidate's own feelings. It was becoming more and more obvious Dracula wasn't be in a talking mood, and Dimitrii began to feel for the way out of there. There was ambition, and there was stupidity, after all... It was right then the dark lord looked up, exactly at him.

The walls didn't fade this time instead blinking out with vicious quickness, leaving not a comfortable study but the kind of dead blankness he had only found at the very edges of Soma's mind. Dimitrii had just enough time to identify what was around him before Dracula knocked him to the ground and gave him a few painful kicks for good measure, cursing all the while.

Dimitrii rolled and tried to scramble to his feet, wincing from the pain in his chest. It felt like the ex-dark lord had broken a few ribs. His jaw followed quickly when Dracula caught up and hit him again, knocking him back to the ground, and this time the vampire decided to get down and start choking him as well. "You filth! Get out of here you wretched creature! Didn't I tell you before? How dare you? How dare you come here again, crawling back like a worm! You don't even deserve to live!"

Dimitrii clawed at the hands around his neck, hoping for some sort of leverage. None seemed forthcoming, and the ex-dark lord just tightened his grip at the attempts. He tried to kick the vampire off as well, but all that seemed to do was make the vampire flinch for a second, then resume cursing. None of it helped, and Dimitrii seemed to be out of options, until he remembered the knife in his pocket. He grabbed for it and felt it brush his fingertips before managed to grab it completely and stab Dracula in the face.

That did something. The ex-dark lord jerked back with a snarl, and the candidate was able to gasp for breath before stabbing a few more times, enough to make Dracula finally, thankfully, let go. One of the chains adorning his writs caught Dimitrii viciously across the face, but he wasn't getting strangled anymore. Dimitrii flung himself away from the crazed vampire and ran. He hadn't been far from the door, and maybe he could lose the ex-dark lord somewhere else... He flung himself across a small barrier adorned with Japanese characters, hearing Dracula roar behind him and convinced he was going to be dragged down and beaten again any second. At least Soma hadn't actually wanted to kill him. Surprisingly, nothing happened, and after a few moments of desperate flight and hearing nothing in pursuit, he turned around.

The ex-dark lord stood right up next to the barrier, snarling in rage, but unable to pass. Dimitrii walked a little closer, rubbing his neck and smirking. So that was the form of the seal, and why he hadn't come looking. He couldn't leave that one small area. Dracula glared at Dimitrii, and his eyes were blood-red now, unlike the grey in the dreams or gold in the study, the candidate noted. Perhaps it was something with being a vampire. Either way, there was no call to remain here, and he had to find somewhere to rest and recover. The candidate tried to give a mocking bow, but his ribs spoke against it with surprising vehemence, so he settled for just walking away. The ex-dark lord stared after him in fury, then began to rebuild the study around himself.

Dimitrii limped back over to the sexual part of Soma's mind and settled down to try and fix himself. If he was going to be in horrible pain he would at least get to look at pretty people. The usual images of people walked by while he willed his ribs and neck to heal, the brunette girl with the short hair, the witch from the church, various famous people, Arikado.... The image of the agent gave him an oddly familiar half-smile before moving on, and that smile nagged something in Dimitrii's mind. He had seen it before, and recently, but where? Dracula looked a bit like Arikado, with the same aristocratic features and dark hair, but he had never seen Dracula happy, just bored and enraged. He hadn't met anyone else here, though, just the various people in Soma's mind and Dracula's memories...and that was it. The fight had driven all thoughts of what he had seen out of his mind, but when the fake Arikado had smiled, he looked just like the son in Dracula's memories. And he did look like Dracula, far too much for it to be just coincidence.

It was simple, once you had the parts. Dark power so strong it was said he had made a deal with Dracula himself for it, an inhuman beauty that never faded, and he was rumored to have a strength belied by his slender frame... Dimtrii rubbed his neck, laughing. Vampires were said to have demonic strength in their arms, after all. And it was rumored in the underworld that Dracula had once had a son, but it seemed that no one had put the obvious together until now. Arikado had been a constant thorn in nearly everyone's side, a man with seemingly no weakness...but this small, forgotten chink in his armor only the remnants of the soul of the dark lord knew about. And now Dimitrii knew as well. This was much-needed leverage. The candidate couldn't help but laugh. Dracula didn't need to worry about him invading his precious memories anymore, he had what he needed.

"Your father's betrayed you, you know," he said to the image, who turned back to look at him upon hearing a voice. "You'll not be so happy in the real world." The image nodded and smiled, uncomprehending.


End file.
